What's the wurst that can happen?

After 2 or 3 years of intense fell running supporting and completing the Bob Graham Round, it's time for a change. I've been mulling over doing a marathon for ages but now's the time to start training for one. Berlin now awaits on 28 September 2008!

It's quite a wrench to do this. Training for a marathon means giving up fellrunning and being disciplined about the roads. It's like moving over to the dark side.

Last time I did a marathon was London in April 06. I ran 3:14:52. My main aim is to beat that, but I'd also like to have a serious go at sub 3 hours. That's arguably a bigger ask, in its own way, than the Bob Graham. It means you need to be fast, and I'm not especially fast.

The BGR required frequent training and the inclusion of some very very long days out at a slow pace. A fast marathon doesn't require whole days and weekends to be taken up with monster training days. However, it means training almost everyday and for much of that training to be hard and outside my comfort zone.

I've decided on a pattern of training that builds in intensity throughout the week before resting. I look forward to it, I think.

Bascially, my weeks will now look like this:

Monday - Rest
Tuesday - Hills (6-9 miles)
Weds - Track (4-6 miles)
Thursday - Steady off road (7-9 miles)
Friday - Tempo (7-11 miles)
Sat - Marathon pace run (8-13 miles)
Sun - Long run (15-22 miles)

The milage will start at the lower end of these ranges and build as I approach the marathon in 14 weeks time.

That training starts today with some Tattenhall hills.

Bloody hell, I'm a road runner!